Big start for UofL in this one. Louisville (in the form of Asia Durr) jumped out to a 10-2 lead and had little trouble slamming Syracuse by 25 points in this matchup of top 15 teams. They led by 30 with six minutes left in the game. For post game fun, double-doubles, declining production and other aspects of beating the Orange into pulp, let's clutch our Jeff Walz bobble heads and dash through the rain to read:
FIVE THINGS ABOUT THIS GAME
5) Let me go take care of this real quick, Coach. Asia Durr doing Asia Durr-type stuff. She hit four of her first five shots, in a variety of court positions and actions, to blast the Cards out to a 10-2 lead in the first four minutes. On a night where the Cards wore Ali tribute-type uniforms, Durr emulated the first-round Ali knockout punch of Jimmy Robinson. All that was needed was a stool to drag Syracuse to. Maybe they could have used Walz's "wee red chair"? Start the count.
4) We will make use of those turnovers. The Cards forced Syracuse into 17 turnovers. Impressive, but more impressive is that UofL scored 25 points off those turnovers. The Cards were gobbling up what Coach "Q"'s bakery was producing and UofL did very little baking themselves with just 12 turnovers....and just six from the starters. Full bellies for the Birds Thursday night.
3) The humor of "Q". We like watching Quentin Hillsman on the sidelines. He's perpetual motion and his post-game presser, albeit brief, was a classic. His opening remark was "That was a tough night for us, huh?" (Why, yes it was!) He spent time talking with Asia Durr after the game. We asked what was said. He teased that Asia said "she took it easy on him" and she could have had 50. A further query (from Asia) about the post-game exchange drew a laugh from her. "He said that?" The truth is, she probably could have gone for half-a-hundred if she hadn't spent her remaining 25 court-time minutes after her early explosion getting her teammates involved in the game.
2) Gimme a double. Kylee Shook went to war against the Syracuse interior after a sluggish first half -- ending up with 12 points and 11 rebounds. We love this new Kylee. Walz challenged her at the half and she responded. We say "Yes!" to her improved positioning inside for rebounds and easy put backs. Oh, she continued her rep as a "swat machine" with three blocks and numerous alterations of shots, too. The Cards rebirth at rebounding is alive and well, they out-grabbed the 'Cuse 46-38. Sam had seven and Dana Evans with six. The "go get the ball" mantra at UofL is alive and well.
1) Trending downward. You don't see this stat very often ,but the Cards and the Orange actually scored less points in the ensuing quarters than they did in the quarter before. For Louisville, the breakdown was 30-21-19-9. For Syracuse 17-13-12-9. Both squads were going to the bench quite often though..."Q" played 12 and all but one got seven minutes or more. Walz's bench produced 27 of the Cards 76 points.
With Notre Dame and NC State taking tumbles on the road last night, Louisville finds themselves alone in first place in the ACC. They'll travel to Blacksburg Sunday at noon to see if they can do the "hokey pokey" and gobble up Virginia Tech, who had last night off.
-- sonja --
FIVE THINGS ABOUT THIS GAME
5) Let me go take care of this real quick, Coach. Asia Durr doing Asia Durr-type stuff. She hit four of her first five shots, in a variety of court positions and actions, to blast the Cards out to a 10-2 lead in the first four minutes. On a night where the Cards wore Ali tribute-type uniforms, Durr emulated the first-round Ali knockout punch of Jimmy Robinson. All that was needed was a stool to drag Syracuse to. Maybe they could have used Walz's "wee red chair"? Start the count.
4) We will make use of those turnovers. The Cards forced Syracuse into 17 turnovers. Impressive, but more impressive is that UofL scored 25 points off those turnovers. The Cards were gobbling up what Coach "Q"'s bakery was producing and UofL did very little baking themselves with just 12 turnovers....and just six from the starters. Full bellies for the Birds Thursday night.
3) The humor of "Q". We like watching Quentin Hillsman on the sidelines. He's perpetual motion and his post-game presser, albeit brief, was a classic. His opening remark was "That was a tough night for us, huh?" (Why, yes it was!) He spent time talking with Asia Durr after the game. We asked what was said. He teased that Asia said "she took it easy on him" and she could have had 50. A further query (from Asia) about the post-game exchange drew a laugh from her. "He said that?" The truth is, she probably could have gone for half-a-hundred if she hadn't spent her remaining 25 court-time minutes after her early explosion getting her teammates involved in the game.
2) Gimme a double. Kylee Shook went to war against the Syracuse interior after a sluggish first half -- ending up with 12 points and 11 rebounds. We love this new Kylee. Walz challenged her at the half and she responded. We say "Yes!" to her improved positioning inside for rebounds and easy put backs. Oh, she continued her rep as a "swat machine" with three blocks and numerous alterations of shots, too. The Cards rebirth at rebounding is alive and well, they out-grabbed the 'Cuse 46-38. Sam had seven and Dana Evans with six. The "go get the ball" mantra at UofL is alive and well.
1) Trending downward. You don't see this stat very often ,but the Cards and the Orange actually scored less points in the ensuing quarters than they did in the quarter before. For Louisville, the breakdown was 30-21-19-9. For Syracuse 17-13-12-9. Both squads were going to the bench quite often though..."Q" played 12 and all but one got seven minutes or more. Walz's bench produced 27 of the Cards 76 points.
With Notre Dame and NC State taking tumbles on the road last night, Louisville finds themselves alone in first place in the ACC. They'll travel to Blacksburg Sunday at noon to see if they can do the "hokey pokey" and gobble up Virginia Tech, who had last night off.
-- sonja --
